Interview with Gratisfaction on signing to 100 Thieves
Shock-waves were sent throughout Australasia last week, as it was officially announced that the legendary Renegades Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team had officially parted ways with the organization and had signed with global icon, 100 Thieves.
Although rumours of the team moving on from the organization had been swirling around for a few months, as most of their contracts were nearing completion, it was still extremely unexpected when the announcement went live in the early hours of November 1st. With that being said, it had been common knowledge to the Counter-Strike community that Nadeshot of 100 Thieves wanted back in to Counter-Strike as soon as possible, after a disheartening first stint with the former Immortals lineup at the start of last year.
Hype had started to build on August 31st of this year, with Matthew “Nadeshot” Haag tweeting “I am so damn excited to enter CS:GO and assemble a championship caliber roster. We are flying to Berlin next week for the conclusion of the Major, with a goal of signing players that are hungry to build a winning legacy here with 100 Thieves. Let’s get to work.”
With the Renegades contract’s nearing their completion, rumours had then begun with 100 Thieves potentially acquiring the Renegades roster. Although some thought 100 Thieves wouldn't make that move, as most assumed that 100 Thieves would acquire the former NRG lineup; now Evil Geniuses.
Nonetheless, 100 Thieves have now not only acquired a top tier team, but they have also acquired the hearts of Counter-Strike fans all around Australasia.
Acquired Roster:
- Aaron “Azr” Ward
- Justin “jks” Savage
- Joakim “jkaem” Myrbostad
- Jay “Liazz” Tregillgas
- Sean “Gratisfaction” Kaiwai
Acquired Support Staff:
Positive takes from this transition are not only the full roster moving over to 100 Thieves, but also the fact that 100 Thieves have also acquired the long-standing Coach and Manager from Renegades CS:GO, kassad and GoMeZ.
We had the opportunity to sit down with Sean “Gratisfaction” Kaiwai, player for 100 Thieves, to talk about the transition and what lies ahead for the roster.
Gratisfaction spoke to us on how this transition came about and how the process ran from his perspective by stating “some of our contracts with Renegades were coming to a close and we were contacted by a couple of organisations that were forwarded through to Renegades. As a team, we collectively agreed that it would be nice to try a different organisation and expressed this to the management team at Renegades.”
“We had two really good offers from organisations, but decided to go with 100 Thieves, as we were excited to represent their brand. From my perspective, it was a clean process. We had a lot of meetings as a team and everything was thought through thoroughly,” finished Gratisfaction.
Renegades have hosted multiple iterations of legendary Australasian Counter-Strike players alongside both Aaron “Azr” Ward and Justin "jks” Savage for four years now. With that being said, it’s clear that moving on from such a long relationship with the organisation would be hard.
We asked Gratisfaction how the support from 100 Thieves compares to what Renegades was offering, to give us an idea on why they decided to move on. “I think that with 100 Thieves being a larger organisation, there is more staff to help us with whatever we need. As Nadeshot said in our welcoming video, there should be absolutely nothing we need to worry about outside of the game, which I’m personally looking forward to,” said Gratisfaction.
Which led us to our next question of if the team will be focusing more on building their personal brands now that they have less stress on their shoulders. Although it’s an exciting prospect for the players now that they’ve signed with a heavily content driven organisation, Gratisfaction stated “we’ll definitely be doing more content for the organisation, but I can’t see myself vlogging or anything like that. We’ll be focusing on winning championships, which should essentially build our brand.”
Closing out discussions around the organisation itself, Gratisfaction went on to tell us that they’ll be moving cities soon, stating “we’re all going to be based in Los Angeles, which is where 100 Thieves is based. I’ve actually visited the city a couple times and really enjoyed it. It also should be a nice change from living in Detroit.”
Gratisfaction closed the interview by giving us a brief break down on how the team is going following the announcement, by saying “everyone is still just focused on Counter-Strike. Our mentality hasn’t changed too much in the team, but this move is definitely a confidence boost for us all.”
100 Thieves will make their return to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive on November 7th, as the team is set to take on ENCE in their opening match at IEM Beijing 2019. With IEM Beijing being a stacked competition, in terms of those competing, it may be tough for the team to make a strong debut under the 100 Thieves banner. Although they are coming off of the back of a third place finish at both the Berlin Major and Starladder Season 7, so this could be an exciting event for both the team and organisation.
You can stay connected with the teams performance by following 100 Thieves on Twitter.
Credits:
- Written by Ben Scott.
- Photos by Logan Dodson / 100 Thieves.
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